Tablighi Jamaat

Tablighi Jamaat (تبليغي جماعت) is a movement founded in the late 1920s by Muhammad Ilyas in the Mewat province of India. Tabligh in Arabic means "to deliver (the message)" and Tablighi Jamaat claims to revive this duty which they consider as a primary duty of Muslims. They usually limit their activities to within the Muslim community itself, their main aim being to bring spiritual awakening to the world's Muslims.

Aims

The movement asks the Muslims at-large to spend their time and money in spiritual journeys (called "gasht"or in arabic "khurooj") to seek religious knowledge ("Taleem") and promote the faith. During these scheduled jouneys (usually for a specified period of 4 months, 40 days, 10 days, or at least 3 days), members of each travelling group (called jama'ats) learn the basic tenets of Islam from each other. Apart from these, a list of desired qualities of the sahabah (companions of the Prophet are studied and practiced.

Visit http://www.tariqjamil.org for more details.

These are:

Conviction of Faith - Belief in the oneness of God. This is expanded to mean that the creation cannot do anything without the will of God, but God can do everything without the creation. It also has the adjunct of belief that complete success in this world and the hereafter is only achieved in following the way of life shown by Muhammad ( Peace be upon him ) and every other way leads to failure in this world and the hereafter.
Humility & Devotion in Salah - Perfection in observance of salah (prayers).
Acquiring knowledge and remembrance of God
Good behaviour towards Muslims, and others. Sacrificing ones own needs in order to fulfill anothers needs. Includes respecting ones elders and showing kindness to somebody younger.
Purity of intention. Meaning that all good actions should be solely for the pleasure of God.
Inviting to God - Spending ones time and money in the "Path of God", calling people towards God, as Muhammad ( Peace be upon him )was the last messenger of God.

Constitution and Activities

Members of any given Jama'at usually hail from varied backgrounds. Each Jama'at is usually constituted in a village or town mosque. They decide upon a route and time period of the Journey by Mash'wara or group counselling.

Each Jama'at has 5 to 20 members with one leader or Amir who is usually chosen by the members themselves before the actual journey. They usually camp in Masjid (Mosque) along the way, and preach to the people who attend the Mosque. During the day, members of the Jama'at visit Muslim houses door to door and roam the markets of the town or village they have camped in and exhort Muslims to lead a pure religious life and invite them to attend a sermon in nearby Mosque after certain prayers. Usually after the sermon, they encourage the attendees to come forward and join them on the spiritual journeys.

Since they encourage other Muslims to join in their spiritual journeys, any Muslim can easily join. There is no strict membership rules to be part of Tablighi Jamaat.

The Jamaat as a missionary organization is popular in South Asia and has many adherents internationally. The main headquarters for Tabligh Jamaat (known as a Markaz)is in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, India. Europe's main Markaz is in Dewsbury, England.east asian'main markaz is in jakarta,indonesia.main african markaz is in derbun,south africa. They have also been seen giving lectures in Al-Aqsa mousque in palestine.

Social Impact

Most hamlets in the Indian subcontinent usually have a mosque called the Markaz, or centre, where weekly meetings occur. Preachers during these meetings urge people to go in Jama'at for as many days as their financial condition permits. The recommended period (but not necessary) is four months once in a life-time, a periodic planned tour schedule of 40 days in a year and 3 days in a month.

A strong grassroots support for the movement can be found in india,Pakistan, Malaysia,thailand,bangladesh,srilanka,fiji,central asian countries,east asian countries,north and central african countries,south american countries the Gulf countries.

In Pakistan the movement is based in Raiwind, near Lahore. The annual Tablighi congregation in Bangladesh, the Biswa Ijtema, attracts over 3 million devotees from around the world. A large participation in Tabligh efforts are also seen in Europe, North America,South Africa,north africa and east asian muslim countries.

Criticism within Islam

Some groups within Islam, like the Salafists of Saudi Arabia and the Jamaat-e-Islami of India and Pakistan, accuse Tablighi Jammaat for its policy of refraining from warning its followers of activities that could be labelled as forms of shirk (polytheism) in Islam. The Jamaat's activities were not fully functional in Saudi Arabia, but now the Saudi government is gradually allowing their activities in the country. As example, in other countries, the jamaat stays at mosques, but in Saudi Arabia they are not allowed to stay in mosques, instead they stay at separate guest houses.

On the other hand, anti-Wahabi groups like the Barelvis accuse the Jamaat of propogating the Wahabi beliefs and associating with them. This is, however, untrue; the Jamaat adheres and follows to all four schools of thought of Ahlus'Sunnah and also Sufi lineages.

Ameers

There have been 4 ameers (leaders) of the Tablighi Jamaat so far. The first one, also the founder, was Maulana Ilyas Khan dhalvi (RA). The second one was Maulana Yusuf Khandhalvi (RA). The third one was Maualana Inaam ul Hasan (RA). The fourth and present one is Maulana Saad Khan dhalvi (DB)...

Refrences

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